New survey reveals what contributes most to short attention spans

Emily Gibbs: The grind never stops for coffee shop owner Tim Rush. So much so, his attention got pulled away during this interview.

Tim Rush: Let me look up online though, just to make sure.

Emily Gibbs: We've all been there. Studies show the average attention span is only eight seconds.

Tim Rush: There's so much on my phone that I think distracts me, and there's always this piece of my mind that's like, "Someone's trying to get ahold of you."

[Text on screen: Source: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center
- Stress & Anxiety: 43%
- Lack of Sleep: 39%
- Digital Overexposure: 35%]

Emily Gibbs: In a new national survey of a thousand American adults by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, people say stress and anxiety contribute most to their short attention span, followed by lack of sleep, and you guessed it, digital devices.

Evita Singh, MD: The stress and the ruminating and thinking about things over and over in your mind can certainly impact attention span.

[Text on screen: Take 5
- Take breaks frequently
- Actively engage in the task at hand
- Keep distractions at a minimum
- Eliminate multitasking
- 5 minutes to refocus]

Emily Gibbs: Ohio State psychiatrist, Dr. Evita Singh, created a tool to help. It's called Take Five. T is for take breaks frequently, A, actively engage in the task at hand, K, keep distractions at a minimum, E, eliminate multitasking, and five, take just five minutes to refocus.

Evita Singh, MD: Can we do five minutes of a small workout? Practice a little bit of mindfulness.

Emily Gibbs: For Tim, it helps him prioritize.

Tim Rush: Focus on the one thing that you want to do, and then you'll find that when you do that one thing, two, three, four follow pretty naturally.

Emily Gibbs: Keeping him grounded and focused. At The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, I'm Emily Gibbs.